@article{Neill, author = {Neill, R. B.}, title = {Character, Society, and the Politics of Hope. A Comparative Look at the Theories of Wilhelm Reich, Erich Fromm and Herbert Marcuse}, series = {Humboldt Journal of Social Relations, Vol. 2 (No. 2, 1975), pp. 36-48.}, journal = {Humboldt Journal of Social Relations, Vol. 2 (No. 2, 1975), pp. 36-48.}, abstract = {The attempt at establishing the interrelationship between character, society and the politics of liberation is what unites the efforts of these 3 Freudian theorists. Wilhelm Reich's focus was on character. His search for a >prophylaxis of neurosis< through character analysis led him into sociology and the problem of social change through radical political activity. Erich FROMM addressed the >problem of man< by attempting to marry a humanistic, marxian, critical social science to a psychoanalytic theory which was stripped of its mystical and conservative social implications. Herbert Marcuse's project was to lay the philosophical foundation for a unification of social theory and revolutionary praxis. In the face of 20th century totalitarianism, each sought an incentive to act and a reason to hope, in Freud's concept of the >dynamic unconscious<. It was only a concept of fundamental human psychological, social or biological >needs< (needs which, if unmet, would necessarily motivate resistance to oppression and domination) that could counteract the pessimistic previews of the behavior shapers. aa}, language = {en} }